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Based on his seemingly heartfelt blog posts and taking him on his honest word (which no one here has any reason to deny or suspect untrue because none of you know him personally)... when it's all said and done I expect his biggest regret will be the deal with HBO.

If he hadn't made those commitments based on their timeline his mind would have been clear to do whatever he wanted with the only real pressure being his own. That appears to be how he wants it and I think it's the direction he's trying to move. It's the reason he posted what he did in the first place.

Everyone needs to get over it and let it be.

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I just read that he missed the deadline and he won't have the book out before the new season. I'm not surprised. He did seem upset about it. I guess he can only do what he can do and he can't do anymore than that. I'd rather have a well written book anyway instead of a rush job.

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I agree, but he had already slowed down considerably by Feast, and that was before there was an HBO deal so it's more than the added fame. He was already demonstrating that he had series issues with the story, all of this before HBO and massive worldwide fame.

He has also said that he gets bored with the story when he knows the ending, so it could be that the HBO deal where he scoped out the broad ending of the story and then was basically locked into was the kiss of death for him creatively. Now he's distracted AND he's bored with the story.

He doesn't seem the type to take criticism to heart to me, if he did, then Dance would not have been even more bloated than Feast.

Good points.

I think you are right. Hes probably known the end and most of the story beats for a very long time, hence why he was able to pass it over to HBO. The problem now is the tedious job of organising all the pieces and fitting everything together, which is maybe a lot more work and less fun than coming up with world building and stories.

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None of the anger or disappointment should be directed at HBO or D&D. Spreading out the seasons to include wandering plots does not work at all. We are likely getting 8 seasons, meaning that George had from 2007 to 2018 to finish his books. 11 long years to write 3 books, and he couldn't do it. That's all on him and we all know it, including himself.

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I wonder how many are truly upset about the miss, or are more upset about the fact that they will no longer be the one at the office who everyone come to to explain the storyline, as the expert on GOT.

I also question whether the show will work well when ahead of the books. The show has short scenes and often does not tell the story that well (IMHO) thus without the books to backstop that with a richer storyline and explanatory material will the shows fall flat?

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I just read that he missed the deadline and he won't have the book out before the new season. I'm not surprised. He did seem upset about it. I guess he can only do what he can do and he can't do anymore than that. I'd rather have a well written book anyway instead of a rush job.

Just because it's taking him forever to write doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be good.

None of the anger or disappointment should be directed at HBO or D&D. Spreading out the seasons to include wandering plots does not work at all. We are likely getting 8 seasons, meaning that George had from 2007 to 2018 to finish his books. 11 long years to write 3 books, and he couldn't do it. That's all on him and we all know it, including himself.

I agree completely.

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I wonder how many are truly upset about the miss, or are more upset about the fact that they will no longer be the one at the office who everyone come to to explain the storyline, as the expert on GOT.

I also question whether the show will work well when ahead of the books. The show has short scenes and often does not tell the story that well (IMHO) thus without the books to backstop that with a richer storyline and explanatory material will the shows fall flat?

It hasnt always done a very good job of writing stuff on its own, but there have been occasions where totally new material has been really great. Some of the stuff added in season 1 especially was excellent.

It might also be that the with the weight of having to deconstruct much of the books clunky elements lifted, they can get on and write with a greater freedom instead of having to find ways of making things fit around a widening unwieldy plot.

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Why are people even comparing Rowling to Martin? They write nothing that's even remotely similar.

GRRM invites the comparison by saying things like this:

The case of GAME OF THRONES and A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE is perhaps unique. I can't think of any other instance where the movie or TV show came out as the source material was still being written.

JK Rowling was writing the Harry Potter books while the movies were being made. Fortunately she buckled down and finished the books before the movies caught up. If she had procrastinated like a certain author, she would also have been writing to beat the movies. Like what we will get with GOT and ASOIAF. Martin inked the deal in 2006, nearly 10 years ago. As he says, if the show has caught up, it's no one's fault except his.

Tolkien took 15 years to write LOTR, which is a quarter of the length of what Martin's published so far, so good writing takes time.

Tolkien is a far better writer and his books are rich works of literature. Times were different then. What he was doing was more or less basically inventing an entire new genre in literature. Tolkien was also teaching at college and working at the same time he was writing. Not traveling around the world, blogging about the NFL and attending conventions. Not saying that GRRM should not do these things. Just that the comparison for why it took so long for both authors does not imply that it's all about good writing.

Plus, Tolkien did not make a movie deal with Peter Jackson while he was writing the books. The movies did not spoil the books for the readers. Due to which here was no added urgency to complete the books on time.

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Just because it's taking him forever to write doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be good.

I agree completely.

How exactly could it be a 'rush job' anyway? He's been working on it for almost 5 years. The longer the books take, the worse they get.

Let's face facts. Martin is not disciplined. He's a procrastinator and he has distracted himself. He also refuses to make any changes to the way he writes, like working from an outline. Thus, he's been now lost in the garden for TEN YEARS. And he's still lost.

He appears very very lost to me if he had given himself several deadlines for finishing the book and now admits he is at best MONTHS away, and it doesn't sound like he's talking 2 or 3 months, but many months and that was if the writing goes well. This sounds like we're talking another year away to me.

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Tolkien was also teaching at college and working at the same time he was writing. Not traveling around the world, blogging about the NFL and attending conventions.

I guarantee you that Tolkien was taking holidays, writing about things that interested him (to friends by letter, since the internet did not exist), and attending conferences (as an academic), in addition to writing other things, spending time with friends and family and other non-writing related activity.